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Hi Alan

In a regular auction house, the crowd is given a chance to bid higher than the current high bid.  This will go on until one of the two remaining bidders drops out.  Until that happens, the back and forth is referred to as a bidding war.

On eBay, all of the snipe bids come at the very end of the auction.  This is little or no chance to try to bid again.  If someone snipe bids over you, your limited reaction time (say 1-3 seconds) precludes you from bidding again.  This encourages rather high snipe bids, simply to blow the other out of the water.  I would not term this a bidding war, as there is no give and take, no ebb and flow, as in a standard auction.

I've been on eBay for quite a long time now, both buying and selling.  I've got the high rating on eBay to match.  I've gamed out the strategy of bidding so as to maximize my chances.  Its exciting and fun, but not a bidding war.   Bidding wars can be most readily seen in the Barrett Jackson Automobile Auctions on TV. 

If you plan on being successful, I suspect your snipe bid will be in excess of $2000.  You will only pay one bid increment over the next highest bid, but it will still be substantial.

That said, there is nothing like the feel of that well crafted instrument in your hands.  Gary got to play with my MHR1, and I didn't even make him wear gloves!

Brad